elodies which
Nature has assigned to a human voice. His manner was decidedly captivating,
and his fine manly features produced in my mind a favourable impression of
his urbanity. I advanced therefore from the place of concealment, and
explaining the object of my intrusion, expressed my sincere regret at
being obliged to witness the singular transaction in which he had been
engaged. He paused awhile, but at length replied in a strain of such
agreeable language, that if I had entertained any doubt of his cheerful
disposition, his frank and persuasive humour would have finally removed it.

"How the devil came you here?" ejaculated the stranger, putting aside the
lute, which hung suspended from his neck by a diamond chain. "You are
deeply in love with the dead, cavalier, to select such a place as this for
the haunt of your meditative dreams."

"Your Turkish cemeteries," I replied, "possess an indisputable superiority
over the sepulchral gardens of Europe. To wander through these bowers of
rose and cypress trees at this beautiful hour of night, enchants the heart
with imaginings that soar above our earthly sphere. But were you inspired
by the same lofty feelings when I first saw you?"

"Not I, cavalier; I came to these charnel vaults to exchange a kiss or two
on the lovely lips of the Pacha's daughter, though, the plague to my
whiskers! if the gloomy Mahometans were in possession of my secret, I
should be impaled before sunrise, and my blue-eyed Sultana would doubtless
expiate the crime of "lighting up her heart" at the shrine of affection,
by being closed in a sack and thrown into the lake. But, I felt persuaded,
there was something _English_, in the tones of your voice. Did you forsake
Old Albion for the sultry, pestilential deserts of these infernal realms?"

"Not absolutely; my travels would have terminated at Constantinople--at
the Gem of Turkish Cities--if the Sultan had not commanded me to convey a
message to the Pacha of Aleppo, relative to the punishment of some
refractory rebels."

"Oh! oh! then you will remain here. But the time of my departure is
rapidly approaching, for when the beams of to-morrow's sun again illumine
the earth, I shall make my best bow to Aleppo--to its angelic Peris, and
retire with my beautiful Sultana--the charm and grace of this eastern
fairy land! But _diable!_ you love a story, and I will tell you of every
circumstance combined with my singular adventure for a wife. Sit down,
cavalier